Nucleic Acids Research, 1985, Vol. 13, No. 19 6969-6979
© 1985
Articles |
Characterization of the 7S RNA and its gene from halobacteria
Institut für Genetik und Mikrobiologie, Universität Würzburg Röntgenring 11, 8700 Würzburg, FRG
Received July 4, 1985. Revised September 16, 1985. Accepted September 16, 1985.
The 7S RNA is an abundant nonribosomal RNA in H. halobium and other halobacteria. A specific 7S RNA gene probe shows high homology to genomic DNA of all halobacteria tested but not to those of several other archaebacteria, eubacteria and eukaryotes. All halobacterial genomes seem to carry a single copy of the 7S RNA gene. The coding region of the 7S RNA gene is highly G+C rich whereas the 5'- and 3'-noncoding regions possess a rather low G+C content. An extended double stranded structure for the 7S RNA is deduced from its nucleotide sequence.
The 7S RNA of H. halobium (304 nucleotides) resembles in size and structure the 7S-L RNA from mammalian cells and shares with it a sequence homology of about 50% when arranged in a colinear fashion. The similarities in sequence are found particularly at the 3'- and 5'-termini. No similarity was detected between the 7S RNA from H. halobium and the nonribosomal 6S RNA from Escherichia coli.
*Present address: Max-Planck-Institut für Biochemie, 8033 Martinsried, FRG